Swiss National Bank Sells 2,900 Shares of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO)

Swiss National Bank cut its position in Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE:FLO) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 391,463 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Flowers Foods were worth $9,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Flowers Foods by 18,254.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Flowers Foods in the third quarter worth approximately $52,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Flowers Foods during the second quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Flowers Foods by 7,694.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 2,924 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Flowers Foods from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Flowers Foods Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FLO opened at $22.43 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $22.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Flowers Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.50 and a 1-year high of $26.12. The company has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 19.68, a PEG ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.36.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.03. Flowers Foods had a return on equity of 19.41% and a net margin of 4.70%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. Flowers Foods’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Flowers Foods, Inc. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Flowers Foods Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. Flowers Foods’s payout ratio is currently 84.21%.

About Flowers Foods

Flowers Foods, Inc produces and markets packaged bakery food products in the United States. Its principal products include fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack items, bagels, English muffins, and tortillas, as well as frozen breads and rolls under the Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs.